Triple stage winner in the last Tour of Italy, where he also won the points classification, Démare took advantage of the third success of his career on the Route d'Occitanie to take the leader's jersey.
In this stage designed for sprinters, a breakaway of four riders formed from kilometer zero with Spaniard Oscar Cabedo (Burgos-BH), Dutchman Wesley Mol (Bike Aid) and Frenchman Leo Danes (Team U Nantes Atlantic) and Jean Goubert (Nice Métropole)
The four fugitives have never counted more than 2 minutes 45 in advance.
Under the impetus of the sprinter teams, in particular Groupama-FDJ and Trek Segafredo, the peloton finally came back to them 28 kilometers from the finish.
Under a scorching heat, the peloton finally arrived together and, well led by his teammates, Arnaud Démare won by one wheel ahead of Pierre Barbier (BB Hotels-KTM) and the Italian Elia Viviani (Ineos).
This is the fourth victory of the season for Arnaud Démare who had not raced since the last Giro.
The queen stage of this Route d'Occitanie is scheduled for Saturday with 188.7 kilometers (4,058 m of elevation) between Sigean (Aude) and the ski resort of Les Angles (Pyrénées-Orientales), which the runners will discover for the first time. in the history of the test.
© 2022 AFP